Deal Town 0-1 Ashford United - If we cannot play great and get a result then that's a sign of a good side, says Ashford United coach Paul Murray

Deal Town 0 – 1 Ashford United
Location	The Charles Sports Ground, St Leonards Road, Deal, Kent CT14 9AU
Kickoff	07/09/2024 15:00

DEAL TOWN  0-1  ASHFORD UNITED
The Isuzu FA Trophy First Qualifying Round
Saturday 7 September 2024
Stephen McCartney reports from Charles Sports Ground

ASHFORD UNITED coach Paul Murray says if we cannot play great and get a result then that’s a sign of a good side after knocking Deal Town out of The FA Trophy in the First Qualifying Round.

Deal Town were playing in the competition for the first time in 50 years.  The club have now lost seven of their eight ties and their only win was back in 1970 when they beat Sittingbourne 2-0 at home in the Second Qualifying Round.

Ashford United grabbed the victory, in front of 655 fans at The Charles Sports Ground, courtesy of centre-half Craig Stone, 35, scoring from a set-piece with 21 minutes remaining, while Deal Town hit the crossbar twice in the second half.

Deal Town went into the game sitting in fourth-place in the eighth-tier Isthmian League South East Division, having picked up three wins from their first four outings, while Danny Kedwell’s side are in sixteenth-place with two draws from three games.

“Mixed feeling today. I thought it was as well as we’ve played all season, I thought we were outstanding and did a lot of things right,” said Deal Town manager Steven King.

“Just when we was on top of the game we didn’t put the ball in the back of the net.  We didn’t have a little bit of luck when we needed it.  We conceded a sloppy goal from a set-piece.  It’s a harsh lesson but performance wise I’m pleased. I thought we did a lot right and if we keep doing that week-in-week-out, I think we’ll be absolutely fine.”

King claimed: “Look, they’ve got new owners, they’ve got a big budget. They’re bringing in experienced players and they’ve got good players, they’re a good side, right through the spine of their side.  They’ve got a real experienced spine.

“I thought the first half was very even. I don’t think there was much to choose between the two teams.

“I thought second half we were the better side. I thought we had five or six really good chances, we obviously hit the bar (twice).  I think Adam Molloy made one save in the second half for us and they’ve scored from a set-piece but fair play, they’ve won the game.  They’ve kept a clean sheet so they’ll be delighted.

“I was pleased with our performance. We’ve played seven games and that’s the best we’ve played in terms of putting all the bits together where we have been very good at putting the ball in the back of the net, it didn’t happen today.”

Murray said: “Very tight game. We done our homework through the week and stuff like that, so it played out how we sort of thought it would play out.

“We didn’t play as well I thought we could’ve done and we addressed that at half-time.

“We had a game plan and I thought first half we sort of edged it really, possession based. There weren’t very many chances. I don’t think there were any chances in the first half but it was a very tight game and to be honest, it could’ve gone either way.”

King revealed that striker Aaron Millbank was away on a pre-planned weekend trip away, Rory Smith is out with a calf injury while Kane Smith is ruled out until mid-October with a knee injury.

For the Nuts & Bolts, Noah Carney has been ruled out for six weeks with a fracture and Lee Martin has recently departed the club to return to Ramsgate, while they suffered another big injury during this game.

Ashford United were playing crab football (backwards and sideways) during the first half, which ensured both Kent sides cancelled each other out with goalscoring chances at a premium.

Murray said: “We liked to be possession based with the way we play. The gaffer keeps emphasising we’ve got players in strength-in-depth where we can change our shape, change our system.  Not many clubs at our level can do that with the bench we’ve got.”

King added: “People have got to understand we conceded twice last week (during our 3-2 win at East Grinstead) and we conceded four at home to Ramsgate (4-2 defeat on Bank Holliday Monday), so we’ve worked a little bit on just tightening up and I thought we did that today.  We limited them to a few chances but they didn’t have lots and lots of chances.”

Ashford United produced their first opening inside the opening six minutes when central midfielder James Dunne played the ball inside to the impressive right-wing-back Marley St Louis, before Jack Saunders played the ball back to Dunne, who clipped a cross to just inside the Deal Town box where left-wing-back Max Walsh steered his header across goal and harmlessly wide of the far post.

Deal Town were a threat from set-pieces and in the eighth minute, Macauley Murray delivered a deep corner from the left, the ball was knocked back by centre-half Alfie Foster and his Ashford counter-part Tolulope Jonah knocked his header back towards goal before Dunne hooked the ball off the line.

“Something that we looked at through the week in training, we knew with my boy’s delivery into the box and we knew they could get on the end of it.  They score a lot of goals from set-pieces, Deal have over the last three or four years, so I thought we dealt with that really well to be honest,” said Murray.

“Craig Stone and Will Moses and Tolu done really well and Dunney, so we dealt with that really, really well.

“I just think we’re pretty good at breaking stuff up and things like that at times and it’s just what we can do in the final third.”

Deal Town showed plenty of invention with their second corner of the game, however.

Murray played the ball along the touchline short to Jack Paxman and he rolled the ball back towards Ben Chapman, who let the ball roll between his legs and his brother Tom took a touch before lashing his right-footed shot over the crossbar from 25-yards.

“We keep trying to work on different things.  We know sides do their homework, so we’ve got quite a lot in our locker that we use in different points.  Yes, that was one that we’ve worked on. It came off but we didn’t quite have the finishing touch to it,” said King.

St Louis got in down the left-hand side and his low centre was aimed at nine-goal striker Gary Lockyer, but Deal Town keeper intercepted the ball, low to his left.

Ashford United’s build-up play was slow and both sides were lacking in quality with visiting goalkeeper Mitchell Beeney comfortably plucking overhit crosses out of the air by using his six foot six frame.

Ashford United’s left-sided midfielder Mikey Berry ran towards goal before he was chopped down by Deal Town centre-half Max Niblett, who was booked by referee Redmond Egan.

Lockyer drilled his right-footed free-kick into the five-man wall and came close to smashing the deadlock from the resulting corner in first-half stoppage time.

Berry swung the ball in from the left with his right-foot and Lockyer threw his head at the ball at the near post, which only just cleared the top of the near-post.

Murray said: “It was a bit of a looping header really. It was a half-chance I suppose. A good ball in, Mikey’s put in some good balls from wide areas and then Lock’s, he’s deadly on the end of things. I’d call that a half-chance, that’s how it was summed up in the first half.”

King added: “I think that header was a little bit dangerous. The free-kick as well but I think we both had identical free-kicks didn’t we.  Macca (Murray) hit one into their wall and then Gary hit one into our wall.

“I thought it was an even first half, fair, fair to come in level. I thought second half was when we really stepped it up and probably should’ve scored.”

King said: “I thought their keeper was outstanding today. He commanded his box, made saves when he had to.  I don’t think there were a lot of clear chances either way.  They probably shaded the better chances, maybe, so I thought the first half was pretty even.

“I said keep going, we were pleased with the first half. It went how we expected it to go. It was just keep going, try to get on top and to be fair to the boys did everything in the second half that I wanted them to do, other than it didn’t go in, so that’s football.”

Murray added: “I’m not going to tell you everything but it was just a case of keep possession based and just be more clinical in the front of the middle and final third.

“I thought we was good, we created a lot of areas, we got into a lot of half spaces and stuff like that but we just didn’t create enough chances, didn’t create any chances really to warrant maybe coming in at half-time, leading, and the gaffer emphasised that at half-time. It’s a 0-0 game at half-time.”

Deal Town put in a vastly-improved second half performance and created their first opening after 89 seconds.

Murray hit a right-footed free-kick into the channel from the half-way line and Tom Chapman delivered a cross towards the far post where recalled wide striker Wes Hennessey steered his header past the left-hand upright.

But Deal Town squandered a glorious chance to take the lead with three minutes and 59 seconds on the clock.

Left-back Alex Green found space in midfield and inside the Ashford half and split open Jonah (who plays on the left of a three-man defence) to put Tom Chapman through on goal but the winger lacked composure inside the box and dragged his right-footed shot across Beeney and past the far post from 15-yards.

“I can’t criticise Tom because he’s been outstanding so far this season – but it just didn’t go for him today,” admitted King.

“He hit the keeper, hit one wide, dragged one across the goal but he’s in those positions. He’s already scored five goals and I thought he was excellent again today. Another day, one of those goals goes in. We go 1-0 up, it’s a different game.”

Murray added: “I’m very familiar with Deal Town’s set-up and stuff like that, so I spoke to the gaffer and the players and talking about Tom Chapman’s a threat and Deal can at times go sort of lopsided and drag you out to the left so they can get out on the right.

“We knew that and unfortunately that incident we got dragged with the ball with the outlet so it was a good move by Deal, clearly worked on, good move and we did ride our luck a little bit there and it’s unusual for Tom Chapman to miss from that area and I’m thankful he did.”

The home side nearly repeated the same move again when an unmarked Green clipped a deep cross towards the back post and Tom Chapman superbly brought the ball down before drilling a right-footed shot from a tight angle towards the near corner, only for Beeney to dive to his left and tip around his near stick.

“I thought their keeper was excellent, I thought he was very, very good,” added King.

“We’re learning this level. I’ve said it consistently, the big difference with the step up is you don’t get as many chances and you’ve got to take them and opposition sides are more likely to punish you with theirs.  We’re learning that. I say we knew that anyway but we’re seeing that the hard way occasionally.”

Ashford United counter-attacked in the 53^rd minute and lacked quality in the final third with their execution.

Saunders fed Walsh, who played the ball along the deck to Dunne, who cut the ball back from the right-hand side to Saunders, who rifled his left-footed shot over the crossbar from 25-yards.

“We said at the end of the game, we didn’t play as well in the second half as we did in the first half,” admitted Murray.

“Maybe that’s down to Deal Town sort of being a bit more offensive. They changed their shape a little bit, made four substitutions and we didn’t get our foot on the ball and play and play possession based and do what we do best.”

Deal Town should have claimed the victory in the 63^rd minute, however, after Jonah fouled the always impressive Tom Chapman and referee Redmond Egan awarded the home side a free-kick outside the right-corner of the box, 28-yards from goal.

Faced with a two-man wall, Murray delivered a quality delivery with his right-foot towards the near post where holding midfielder Billy Munday buried his header towards goal.  Beeney palmed the ball up with both outstretched arms and the ball clipped the crossbar before it was put behind for the home side’s sixth (of eight) corners.

“You expect Bill to score from there – but a great ball, good header, keeper’s done well,” said King.

“It just wasn’t our day wasn’t it and that happens in football. You have days when it goes for you and you have days when last week we scored twice in the 90^th minute and it was our day and today it just wasn’t our day.”

Murray added: “We looked at their strengths and weaknesses and stuff like that and we already talked about Macca’s delivery into the box.  Over the past three or four years that he’s been here, they’ve scored a lot of goals from it and since Billy Munday’s been here, he’s been on the end of it nine times out of 10 anyway, especially in the SCEFL.

“It’s something we talked about. We asked Gary Lockyer to come in and deal with that situation, which he had done with the free kicks that they had into the box and there was always going to be that one time.  Billy’s a good player, he’s a very, very good players, probably a little bit unlucky there.”

Ashford United grabbed the victory, however, with 23 minutes and 27 seconds on the second half clock, following a set-piece of their own.

St Louis cut in from the left before his run was ended by being tripped by Green and Ashford United were awarded a free-kick some 30-yards from goal, outside the left-corner of the penalty area.

Substitute left-back Joseph Taylor swung in a quality left-footed free-kick into a crowd of players and Stone emerged to hit a right-footed half-volley, which deflected in as it caressed the top left-hand corner from eight-yards to score his second goal of the season.

Murray said: “Stoney’s done that a couple of times. I think he scored last week (in our 6-1 win over Three Bridges in The FA Cup).

“We’ve got our own set-pieces, we’re pretty good on set-pieces a well so we’re effective in those areas.  We’ve got some players that have got good quality on delivery, good goal and to be honest, at the end of the day, one goal was going to win it anyway, by the looks of it.

"Like the gaffer says, if we cannot play great and get a result, then that's a sign of a good side."

King added: “I need to see it again, really disappointed from our point of view. I can’t comment now.

“When somebody’s volleying the ball in the middle of the box, I’m not quite sure what happened but it’s a set-piece and we’ve got to try to tie it up again.

“They’re a big side, their delivery was good and if I’m their manager I’m thinking they have come away, they’re probably thinking this is a reasonably tough place to come and they’ve come away and kept a clean-sheet.

“Their keeper’s made good saves, they’ve score from a set-piece and then they’ve managed the game, although we’ve had chances after it but I thought they showed their experience and managed the game in the latter stages and made it difficult for us to keep that momentum up after the scored.”

King held the substitute board aloft as he made a quartet of substitutions before changing formation to 4-2-1-3 but Ashford United’s back three of Jonah, Stone and William Moses slammed the door shut as they became the first side since Snodland Town on 24 December 2023 to come here and keep a clean sheet - in a 3-0 win in the Southern Counties East Football League Premier Division.

Murray said: “When was that? When was the last time they didn’t score at home?  It’s a bit strange for me really, obviously being the manager here before and knowing all the players. There’s a few players here that I brought in when I was here as manager a few years’ ago, so they’re a good side.

“The staff here at Deal have done a good job off the pitch is amazing what they’ve done here at this football club is fantastic and that’s reaping rewards with people coming through the gate.

“I think any club in our league would be quite happy to have that (655) crowd on a regular basis and Deal do get that on a regular basis and that’s something we’re striving for at Ashford.

“There’s a lot of stuff going on behind the scenes at Ashford and it looks like a great project for everyone at the football club and there’s no pressure on us as a management team but we still want to win and we want to get forward and move on and I think realistically play-offs.

“Honestly, I think play-offs is something that, if we don’t get play-off’s, then we’ll be very disappointed.”

King added: “If we didn’t create chances, I’ll be worried. I think we all know the disappointment of the Ramsgate game after 3-2 we really struggled; we probably didn’t look like getting an equaliser.  Today, after they went 1-0 up, I thought we always looked a threat and we always looked like scoring, so it didn’t go in today but that doesn’t worry me. It will go in, another day, so no panic.”

Peter Taylor was spotted in the crowd and the scout for National League club Dagenham & Redbridge indirectly evidenced who he was here to watch as he swiftly got off his seat and made way for the exit as soon as the impressive St Louis, 18, was substituted in the 80^th minute.

“Marley’s a good lad, good attitude, obviously come from a good background,” explained Murray.

“He got released by Leyton Orient and then he went to Bromley and then we played Bromley and gaffer liked him, so the gaffer spoke to Bromley and we got him. 

“He’s a really nice lad, great potential, massive potential and he fits in with what we want to do as well, so he’s a good lad.”

His replacement, Lanre Azeez lasted only seven minutes as he suffered another injury to his right knee and was replaced by Kedwell, who sat in front of the defence for the remainder of the game (including a second shy of nine minutes of stoppage time).

“I feel so sorry for the lad. It was a knee injury that he sustained at the end of last season and he worked hard through the summer,” said Murray.

“The club has carefully monitored what he’s doing and he’s been good in training, he’s been back training. He’s worked hard with Ben Coles and today we’ve given him that chance and then he goes and gets a knock on the same (right) knee.

“It was an accident but it doesn’t look good, so we’ll have to sit and wait and see and wait for a scan to see what happens.”

Ashford United’s talisman striker Lockyer endured a quiet time but his big moment came (45:24) when receiving a pass from Berry, but after cutting onto his left-foot, he stroked a 25-yard drive from a central position, which was comfortably gathered at the second attempt by untroubled goalkeeper Adam Molloy.

Murray said: “People look at Gary and sometimes you look at him and think how he’s scored nine goals but he’s just a good, strong centre-forward. He’s a traditional centre-forward. He knows where the back of the net is.  He will score goals wherever he goes and he has done and he’s back at his home club now.  May he continue to score.”

King added: “I thought defensively we were good. Last two games we conceded four here and then we conceded two at East Grinstead and I thought defensive as a whole team we were a lot better today, without losing our attacking threat and that was the most pleasing thing.

“People will look at the result but on another day we could’ve scored goals quite comfortably.”

Deal Town squandered a glorious chance to force a penalty shoot-out (45:45) when substitute Zak Hammond launched a long ball from right-back which put substitute Jack Penny through on goal and after taking a touch, he lashed his left-footed shot against the crossbar from 16-yards.

King said: “I fancy Penny there. It’s tough for him, he’s just coming back from injury, he’s not played many minutes. He’s got in, I would’ve put a lot of money on him.  It goes to penalties, I thought we deserved at least a draw.

“It was an absolute minimum on our performance. I think on the second half we probably shaded it but it didn’t go in. We hit the bar twice, keeper made good saves. We’ll go away, we’ll watch the video, we’ll analyse but I think if we can put that level of performance in most weeks, I think we’ll be ok.”

Murray added: “A little bit of luck from our side of things but we had a few injuries. Lanre came off, we had to put the gaffer on. I know they made a few changes as well.

“It was one of those games one goal was probably going to win it and one goal did win it.  Both teams were even, you couldn’t really say one team was better than the other.  Even game and we’ve come away with a win so we’re quite happy.”

Both sides travel to the coast on Tuesday night, with King taking his side to play Ben Greenhalgh’s Margate, while Kedwell takes his side to Ramsgate.

Margate were 5-0 winners at Hanworth Villa in The FA Trophy today, while Ben Smith’s Rams came away from Sheppey United with a 3-2 win.

Margate are in 13^th place in the league table with three points from three games, while Ramsgate are at the summit with four wins out of four.

Beckenham Town (10 points from four), Sheppey United (nine points from three), Deal Town (nine points from four) and Erith Town (seven points from three) are in the play-off zone tonight.

Looking ahead to their trip to Hartsdown Park, King said: “Really tough. But we’re looking forward to it. We go in as underdogs.  They’ve had a decent start to the season, certainly in The FA Cup, a little bit like Ashford.

“Another side with a good budget, signed a lot of experienced players, very rarely been down at this level but we’ve played Ramsgate and Ashford now, two sides that I would expect to be right up there at the end of the season, certainly their ambitions will be to be right up there.

“I don’t think we’re a million miles off. We’ve got work to do, don’t get me wrong but this is going to be a project coming up to Step Four.  I’m pleased with what I’ve seen and I’m pleased with how the players have stepped up to a level and I think we’ve shown enough again today with our all-round performance that across another 38 league games we’re going to do ok.”

Murray, meanwhile, was asked what it was like being in the Ashford dug-out while his son Macauley were playing in holding midfield for Deal Town.

“He’s a good player. He’s been here for a little while now, he’s settled in here, he’s happy here,” said Murray.

“When we done our homework, we sort of targeted him in the sense of trying to stop him from dictating play but it’s strange, it’s the first time I’ve actually come up against him as an opponent.”

King added: “Muz was here when we came in, so a long time ago, nine years ago we came in together. He’s a brilliant coach, knows his football inside out, seen the influence on how they wanted to play.  They’ve got an incredibly experienced management team haven’t they with Danny Kedwell, Dean Beckwith, Craig Stone playing, Muzza.

“I think for our club to go and compete against these sort of sides and match them and make it a proper game, I think that’s a real positive of how far we’ve come.

“But we won’t stand still and our aim is in a year, 18 months, two years’ time, we can turn in these sort of games, those good performances into having that bit of streetwise to win the game.”

Looking ahead to the visit to Ramsgate, Murray added: “Our heads now turn to Tuesday. We’ll assess injuries, we’ve got a few knocks so we’re going to have a look over the next couple of days and then we’ll asses where we are on Tuesday.

“It’s a big game. I think the gaffer emphasised with comments he has made that we can’t compete with the likes of Ramsgate financially, as much as anyone says.

“It’s football, it’s 11 players against 11 players and we’ll go out there, we’ll have a game plan and we’re confident.  We are going there confident and we’ve got good players and we can win football matches.

“I know the gaffer is working on bringing in some players. Losing Lee Martin as well is a big miss. In my eyes is a big miss.”

Deal Town: Adam Molloy, Jack Paxman, Alex Green, Billy Munday, Max Niblett (Jack Penny 73), Alfie Foster, Wes Hennessey (Owen Wilkinson 73), Macauley Murray (Ashley Miller 72), Jamie Kennedy, Ben Chapman, Tom Chapman (Zak Hammond 72).
Sub: Josh Vincent

Booked: Macauley Murray 44, Max Niblett 45

Ashford United: Mitchell Beeney, Marley St Louis (Lanre Azeez 80, Danny Kedwell 87)), Max Walsh (Louis Collins 58), Craig Stone, Tolulope Jonah, William Moses, Mikey Berry, James Dunne, Gary Lockyer, Adem Ramadan (Joseph Taylor 59), Jack Saunders.
Sub: Dean Beckwith

Goal: Craig Stone 69

Booked: Max Walsh 41, Tolulope Jonah 55, Gary Lockyer 61

Attendance: 655
Referee: Mr Redmond Egan
Assistants: Mr Matthew Charles & Mr Ayden Gillespie